Tales of Symphonia T h rusting Angels
by Kratos the 9th Companion
Summary: How did Kratos ever meet his beloved wife? How did they fall in love? How did it all end? A Tales of Symphonia fanfiction of the pairing Kratos x Anna. There are major spoilers inside, so if you haven't finished the game, I wouldn't recommend reading it.
1. Investigation

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia... If I would it'd be cool though. -Nods- Enjoy!

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It was a cold night. Almost too cold for anyone to be out at this time, and yet there were. Near the seemingly peaceful village of Asgard, there was a ranch. Not just an average ranch where people kept their cattle, no, this one was different. Way different. Inside these ranches, humans were kept, for the sole purpose of creating small orbs, about the size of a big marble. The creating of these things called expsheres didn't go the way as one would expect. They were not made by hand, as any normal employer would do. The exspheres could only by produced by draining the life of the living creature it was attached to, right at the skin. They got ill. In the end, the death of the host would result in finishing the evolution process of the exsphere. They are strange things, that allow to improve one's abilities to even an inhuman level, increasing speed, strength, accuracy, and so forth... But for a price. A price that is too much to ask. Human lifes. On top of that, the suffering of the deceased one will not stop, for the greedy object also collects the soul of its host. Once you're in one of them, there is no way of getting out. You watch, but can never intervene. You are nothing more, than a lifeless being, doomed to go through so many things, for eternity even. Some hold onto them as keepsakes, others simply to become stronger, even to give power and energy to mechanic systems... What they do not know, is the truth about them. They do not know, about the process of creating an exsphere. If they knew however, would they be able to throw it away?...

In this ranch, cold and filled with steel frames, there were some nightwatches outside. They were dressed in darkred suits, combined with black leather. They all wore helmets that covered their eyes, and had either a sword, bow, or even a whip. They didn't seem like the types to mess with. They guarded the electric fences, and many other technology, which was unknown in this world, named Sylvarant. These people, managing the work around the ranch, were named Desians. Desians weren't only in this place though, they were spread all throughout the world, causing havoc upon everything and everyone they found. Burning down villages, taking people to their disgusting ranches, and killing everyone who opposed them. No one dared to do anything against them. They were simply too strong, and with too many. A ll of the inhabitants of the world, relied on the Chosen, leaving the heavy task of chasing away the Desians on his, or her, shoulders. Many Chosens had failed up to now, dying when they were on the Journey of Regeneration, to make the land prosper by their magical journey, reviving the Goddess Martel in the process, and seal away the Desians. No one knew the true complicated matters behind all of this, no one had any suspicions either, but that's another story...

This ranch was one of the main ones at the moment, for it had a special inquiry going on. It was one of the most isolated ones, being well hidden in the forest. Technically seen this research meant making the ultimate exsphere. The named for the project was; The Angellus Project. They'd attach the first stadium of an exsphere right onto someone's skin, letting it grow steadily, tender, and with care, as if it was a newborn child. The leader off all the Desians was a man named Mithos Yggdrasill, Hero of the Ancient war. He had lived for over fourthousand years, thanks to the help of an exsphere, his body stopped aging. In fact, he was even able to control it. A long time ago he had been a good person. He was a half-elf, and despite the cruel discrimination against them by humans as well as half elves, he always tried to make the best of it. In the end, he had joined forces, and let the many years raging war stop, together with his three best friends, making an end to the suffering by splitting the two fighting countries named Thete'alla and Sylvarant apart. His three friends were named Yuan, a blue haired half elf, Martel, his green haired sister, who was more like a motherly figure to him, and last but certainly not least, even a human, named Kratos Aurion. All of these were still alive, also 4000 years old, except for Martel. She had been killed off by a human when she had tried to save him. In her last dying breath, she had wished for a world without discrimination. It was then that Mithos had gone out of control. He was determined to fufill Martel's last wish, but because he lost his sanity, it became a twisted version. Kratos nor Yuan tried to stop their best friend at the time. Mithos had gone through so much, they could understand his feelings.

At the present time, Mithos was in control of the both worlds named Sylvarant and Thete'alla that lay right next to another, but who were not able to notice each other at all. During the Ancient Kharlan war, the tree of mana, the very source of life, had withered and died. Since that time, the worlds started vying for each others mana. Like an hourglass. If a Chosen of Sylvarant for example would succesfully finish his or her journey of regeneration, the mana flow would be reversed. in other words, the mana would flow from Thete'alla to Sylvarant, making the world prosper. At that moment Thete'alla would start to decline, and so their Chosen set of on a journey of regeneration. It was a vicious circle, never being able to be able to broken, especially not with the ignorance of this process for everyone. One way or another, the one in command after Mithos, was Kratos.

This man had been in the Knighthood of Thete'alla at the time of the Ancient war, fighting for his country as brave and courageous as possible. However, his country was defeated, and there was nothing left of it. He had met Mithos and the others, and decided to join them. After all, they tried to make the world a better place, which was Kratos's intention as well. The man was rather tall, and muscular built. He seemed to be in his late twenties, although the truth was he was an ancient being. His hair was halflong, and beautiful auburn coloured, where as his eyes were a deep shade of crimson. He had a stoic look upon his handsome face as he walked towards the entrance of the Asgard ranch.

"Lord Kratos!" One of the guarding Desians called out, alerting his colleges. They all looked up at the man approached. He wore a complicated looking outfit, consisting of brown leather belts, long sleeves, a high collar, and a pair of long trousers. Behind him flowed some pieces of long fabric, looking like water in their movement. The fabric of his clothes mostly consisted out of pristine white, and shades of light purpel at certain point. Also, he wore a pair of strong boots, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. To sum it up, it was a rather intimidating sight as he approached the Desians, who were half-elves. He constantly held the hilt of his long sword, that was attached to one of his belts. The Desians shut off the electricity t the main gate, letting their master in. Kratos was sent by Mithos to check upon the Angellus Project, seeing how far it had progressed by now. It had been a few weeks since they had implanted the exsphere on a new subject, since the previous one had died by comitting suicide. Mithos Yggdrassill was very eager to lay his hands on this special blue coloured expshere as soon as possible, like a spoiled child that couldn't wait for his birthday present. He had changed. And so did Yuan and Kratos. The once close friends didn't trust each other anymore, despite their ranks. "I've come to see the Angellus project." The auburn haired man said stern. Despite the commanding way of talking, his voice was deep, calm, and above all soothing.

Directly one of the Desians showed him the way. Not that Kratos was unfamiliar in this ranch, it was just that he didn't know where the current host body was being held. The remaining ones closed the gate again, turning on the electricity again, another thing unknown by the Sylvarant inhabitants. For Martel's sake, they still used fire to lighten things up... Not that there was anything wrong with that, but compared to Thete'alla's inhabitants it was more than just primitive. But then again, Thete'alla had known a long time of prosper now, it was not surprising they made a quick developement due to the relatively large amount of mana. The Desian led him around, eventually letting him into a small room. The walls were all very lightbrown coloured, so light that it even looked like orange. There were four corners in total, two of them having a metal chair. Half of the room was meant for visitors, and the other half was behind a wall of something that looked like some mixture of glass and hard plastic. The Desians stood behind him in the door opening. "This is host body A012, Lord Kratos." The half elf said polite and with respect for his superior, even though he was of the race he despised so much. The room seemed to be isolated. When they had been walking through the halls the mourning cries of the prisoners could be heard, being silenced by the sounds of whips afterwards. The man didn't even flinch as he had walked past them, being used to it, more than was healthy.

Kratos's crimson gaze was rested upon the female human that sat at the other side of the room, behind the glass. There was no furniture, or whatsoever. They had probably taken that away so that she couldn't do anything to herself. The light that lit the room was very bright and white, and it'd hurt your eyes if you'd directly look in it. The auburn haired man raised his well shaved chin, causing some of his bangs to fall out of his face. Because of that, the light got into his crimson eyes, making his pupils smaller by adjusting to the light. The woman sat in the corner, with her back against the wall. She wore some ragged brown clothes, the 'uniforms' of the humans that came here. Her legs were raised, and pressed against her chest. She had her arms folded, placed on top of her knees, with her head buried in them. She had long brown hair. Apparantly it hadn't been washed in quite some time, since it seemed dull as well as tangled up at certain parts. The lady appeared to be quite calm, since even Kratos with his inhuman eyesight could barely noticed how she breathed. One way or another, his eyes scanned her body, looking at where the expshere was exactly place. He had an interceptible frown at his face as he couldn't see it. She probably had it hidden somewhere.

"Let me in." The auburn haired Seraphim demanded, and the Desian nodded quickly, fufilling his master's request. Part of the glass like substance opened like a door, and Kratos walked through. The Desian closed the door as soon as the man was inside, in case the prisoner would try to escape. He was just being carefull, not taking any risks. If he'd let that experiment escape, his superiors would make sure he'd pay for it with his life. Besides, Lord Kratos was strong beyond imagenation, the lady couldn't do him any harm, even if she wanted. When she had first come here she was full of life, struggling and resisting whenever possible, but after a few weeks she had calmed down. Mostly to the fact she didn't get enough to eat, couldn't sleep, and the worst; her life was being drained. Not that the Desians had any trouble with that though. Kratos walked over to the girl, his footsteps echoeing in this sealed room. Sound could only be heard from the inside, there was no way for it to pass through the glass material. He stopped his pace as he stood right in front of her. He arms hung limply next to his body, making him seem slightly less intimidating somehow. He stood there, waiting for the girl to at least look up and see who was in front of her. Kratos didn't like the fact that she stubbornly ignored his presence, and prodded her leg lightly with his shoe, as he gave her a cold glance.

As a result, her leg went flat on the ground, and one of her arms followed, hanging limply next to her side, partially touching the ground. The man mumbled something as he partially covered his face with one of his gloved hands, feeling like an idiot. The girl had been sleeping. He lowered his hand again, his stern look reappearing on his well formed face, and he prodded her once again, a bit harder. She shot up, directly backing away, slamming her head into the wall by accident with a loud thud. "Ow!" She exclaimed and squinted her eyes. She raised the arm that had fallen limply on the ground earlier, and rubbed the back of her head as she cringed. "Hmm..." Kratos mumbled as he noticed the blue coloured exsphere at the back of her right hand. It was forming rather well so far, the skin around it already started to cripple. It was a horrible sight, but Kratos could care less. His cold gaze went to the girl herself now. She had sparkling brown eyes, the only things that indicated she wasn't exhausted, unlike the black walls underneath her eyes, and thin arms. Despite her state, she wasn't ugly in the least. She even was worth to be called pretty, and was probably somewhere around twenty or so, he estaminated. She looked up at him, trying to comprehend what was exactly going on. Soon her surprised look turned into that of an angry one. "Sheesh! How many times must you idiots bother me before I can get some rest?!" She yelled at him, clearly being pissed off. Kratos's gaze went back to that of the door opening. The Desian had left, probably to do some other chores. He turned his gaze back at the blue crystal, bent over, and grabbed her hand where it was attached to. He bent down, balancing himself on his toes, so that he wouldn't rip her arm off by accident in the process. He took a closer look at the orb. She desperately tried to pull her hand back, clearly not liking to be touched by random people. It was useless though, she didn't even manage to move this man's hand. "Let go off me!"


	2. New location

Disclaimer: I still don't own Tales of Symphonia. And yet I wish I did! Hope you'll like it.

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"Let go off me!" Host body A012 called out, hurting the man's ears, since he had a very keen hearing, but she didn't know. She continued struggling, but after a few minutes she stopped doing so, realizing that it didn't matter to this man in the least. She had her eyes narrowed in a hostile way. "Nice, huh? That little thing that makes me as well as many others suffer! Looks good, doesn't it?" Kratos didn't pay any attention to her comment. If she was trying to make someone feel guilty, or tried to mess with someone's conciousness, she was with the wrong person. Finally her tense muscles relaxed a bit, but she didn't let her guard down, even though she was on the verge of exhaustion. Her breathing was ragged, and would make normal people pity her condition. Finally the intimidating man let her hand go, and she withdrew it as quick as possible, like a prey that tried to get away from the predator, but had nowhere to go really. With that, he straightened his back again, standing up. He glanced down upon her, and she glanced up at him. There was an awkward silence between the two, which wasn't that strange. The progress went well, she was still full of life, but not enough to let the expshere develope properly.

The Desians didn't give her enough to eat, since she was really slender, and that wasn't good. In order for the project to finish as soon as possible it'd be best to remain at the current host body. If it wouldn't, it'd take a long time to adapt to a new host again, thus making Mithos even more impatient. He patiently waited for the Desian to return and open the door. Kratos was able to break it if he had to, but wouldn't do anything unnecessary. Meanwhile, he didn't break his gaze from the female, nor did she break her gaze from him. They both seemed to observe each other, scanning for any possible strenghts and weaknesses. A minute of absolute silence had passed as they did so, before Kratos opened his mouth in order to speak, but shut it again. He had been wanting to ask how she was feeling, wondering how long she could last in this condition. However, it was too obvious to see to ask for confirmation. Besides, he was expecting a dishonoring witty comment in return, so it was better not to say anything at all. "Lost your tongue?" She spoke, not yelling anymore, but still giving a comment that slightly annoyed Kratos. It had been a long time ago that someone dared to talk him down. He wondered, if she knew who he was, would she still continue doing so? "..."

The Desian returned, and Kratos turned his head in his direction, gesturing with an interceptible nod that he wanted the door to be opened. The half elf didn't notice the nod, but did open the door, seeing at how Lord Kratos looked at him with his cold stare. The door slid open, and Kratos left the girl on her own again, not looking back even once. There was no need to do so anyway. The door closed behind him again, letting the girl be isolated as she usually was. Kratos walked over the desian, standing in front of him. "She must be fed better, or you will have to undergo the implications for not doing so..." He said in a threatening way, making clear enough for the Desian what it was that he threatened with. "U-understood, Lord Kratos!" The Desian said nervously, sounding as if he made an important vow. Without granting the half elf any other sign of his communicative skills he left the building, through the gate he had come through. He set off in the night, heading back to Derris-Kharlan, a planet, consisting of pureply mana, in physical form as well. It was the main base of Mithos Yggdrasill, with his small entourage of Angels. The biggest part of them was in a place called Welgaia, also located in space.These so called angels were actually half elves, without a soul, or memories, but with wings, created thanks to a cruxis crystal, a special kind of expshere that could create wings. The Chosens also got those, it was a sign that they were destined to go on a Journey of Regeneration.

Everything in the world, was a lot more complex than it looked, and some things were better left unknown, that was the only thing that was for sure.

"Lord Yggdrasill..." Kratos spoke, standing in front of a man who was sitting on some kind of throne. There were no walls, nor ceiling. There only was a brown tiled floor with strange pattern, and on top of that, they were surrounded by an eerie purple sky, that seemed to circulate. lloking at it for too long would make anyone dizzy. At the throne sat a man, dressed in a tight white suit, with golden decorations at certain points. His hair was long, and as fine as silk. Also, he had cold blue eyes. He hung lazily at his throne, waiting for his subordinate to tell him of the progress so far. "The developement is continueing well. However, the host body was weaker than the previous host body due to the lack of food. I took care of that matter, Mithos." Only a few were allowed to call Mithos Yggdrassil by his first name. Very few. Two to be exactly. Yuan, and Kratos. If anyone else would call him Mithos, the blonde half elf would make sure they'd never see daylight anymore. A long time ago he wouldn't ever have thought about doing something like that, but as mentioned before, things had changed. "Good work, Kratos." Mithos said, shifting in a different position, resulting in some of his blonde bangs falling in front of his slender face. "Make sure it won't die," he said, not referring to humans as if they actually had a gender, or feelings, for that matter "I'm fed up with waiting." He added, tapping with his fingers in different orders at his knees. "Go check it in a few days again, I don't want to take any risks." "As you wish." The auburn haired man replied, making a small bow before he took his leave. He didn't complain. He hadn't been at Sylvarant and Tethe'alla in a long time. Most of his time was spent here, in the middle of nowhere, training his swordskills to kill time. However, his abilities simply couldn't improve anymore. He was simply too good. In other words, a change of setting would be nice from time to time.

Kratos kept his word, and two days later he arrived at the ranch again, this time in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day. The sky was perfect blue coloured, and there was no cloud in sight. The sun rays warmed up everything. Everything was harmonious...Except for the cries of pain coming from the humans in the ranch. They were forced to push big boulders, no matter if you were a male or a female, a granddaughter or a grandfather, they all had to do the same heavy work. If you'd slack off for even one moment, the Desians punsihed them by using their whips. From time to time, they also found it fun to do without reason. Today another Desian let him in, the usual process. This time though, Kratos could find his own way. He entered the visitor area of the room, and noticed that another Desian was sleeping at one of the metal chairs in the corners. "..." Sleeping during his duty! Didn't he have any pride left? He kicked him awake, and he shot up, calling out some female name all of a sudden. He was panting slightly, but as he realized where he exactly was he soon got to work, letting Kratos in. The Desian who had shown him around earlier was nowhere to be found.

Host body A012 still sat in the exact same position as when he had first seen her. Her legs still pressed against her body, with her arms wrapped around them, even placed in the same corner. This time she was awake however, and eyed him suspiciously as he entered the isolated the room. The seemed starved, even more thin than at first, which caused Kratos to frown in annoyance. He gave a hatefull look in the direction of the Desians who had just opened the door for him, who cringed at the cold look of his superior. That's it. If these cruel Desians weren't even able to take care of an important research subject like this, they might just as well go and do something else with their lifes. Kratos made a small movement with his hand, gesturing he wanted the door to be opened. Hesitatingly the Desian opened it, wondering why the Serpah wanted to leave so soon again. The girl still watched Kratos cautiously as the door opened. What was it he wanted this time? Take another look at that odd gem? Whatever they'd do to her, she had no intention of letting them do what they wanted with her cooperating. In fact, she'd resist as much as possible.

A few firm steps were taken in the direction of the female, and her chocolate brown eyes widened slightly as the unknown man's shadow covered her. Before she fully realized it, she wasn't at the ground anymore, but in strong and warm arms instead. "Idiot! Put me down at once!" She protested, slamming her fragile hand at his muscular chest. He barely noticed it. He walked out of the isolated room, carrying her, with his left arm supporting her at her knee pits, and his right one supporting her at her back. The 'bridal' way. "L-Lord Kratos!" The Desian exclaimed, obviously being startled by this sudden action. "I'm taking her with me. If you can't even feed her properly you have no right to keep her in your possesion." He said with his usual calm and soothing voice, although it somehow sounded as if he was resisting the urge to snarl at him. It was the first time he had spoken in presence of the host body. How could this lower ranked apprentice even neglect such an important project for the sake of their highest leader? "A--A-Ah, yes, Lord Kratos!" The Desian replied stuttering, fearing for his life if he wouldnt comply with that. "Humph." Was the last thing the Serpahim mumbled before he left the room, with the girl calling him things and slamming his chest.

They received several stares, from as well the Desians managing things outside, as the humans. The humans hardly dared to look, fearing they might get whipped again. On top of that, they thought it was someone else who would be executed, the thought about it made them shiver. If someone was taken like that, it'd end like that. They didn't know this wasn't the case this time. The Desians let Kratos out, being rather surprised, but not asking any questions. Kratos steadily walked on, noticing how with every time the female hit him she became weaker, until she finally gave up. The Desian instinctively followed Lord Kratos, but got kicked in the face as soon as the host body noticed him. If she couldn't punish the guy that carried her, then she'd gladly take the oppertunity to hurt that filthy Desian. Kratos didn't do anything about it. By the time when she had finally calmed down, he was in the forest surrounding the ranch. Desperately she had tried to make as less contact as possible with his body by moving her body away from his, but failed doing so in the end. Later on she was even too tired to keep her head up, causing it to rest at his chest instead. Her eyes were half closed, and her mouth was half open, due to the lack of breath. Kratos's gaze was rested upon her, she sure looked devastated... Kratos even got a short feeling of pity, but it was gone in a matter of seconds, so fast, that he hadn't fully realized it. After walking for about fifteen minutes they were far away enough to not hear the screaming of the humans at the ranch.

The forest was beautiful, and was lit by the sun. The rays that shone through the uncountable leaves made the soft ground look green. He decided it would be best to let her rest out a bit. It must've been very intensive for her, the recent events since she had been there. He head over to a large tree, and put her down against it. He took a few small steps backwards, and sat down at the soft short grass, that didn't get much oppertunities to grow due to the shadows of the trees. Kratos crossed his legs in indian style, with his elbows resting on the inner side of his thighs. He didn't have anything to eat for her yet, but at least she'd be able to catch her breath for now. The man was still staring at her with his crimson gaze, and she returned the favor. It was as if she was trying to see what was going on in his mind, but there was no way for her to find answers to her questions by looking at him. His eyes were void. Just plain void. They sat there for a while, with only the chirping of the birds breaking the almost hypnotizing silence. Kratos closed his eyes, he didn't feel comfortable with her looking into them the whole time. He could easily hear if she'd stand up and try to escape. Besides, even if she would, he'd catch up with her in no time, even if she would be in a proper condition. He could hear her breathing, and focused on that sound only, until the sound became stable again and he opened his eyes, looking into her beautiful brown ones once again. They still hadn't lost their sparkling from earlier.


	3. Conversation

Disclaimer: No no, I keep telling you, I don't own Tales of Symphonia. What? you knew? Oh, okay. Well, next chapter, enjoy!

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Kratos gazed into her sparkling eyes as she sat there silently against the tree. Her body was tense, despite the weakened state she was in. She was the first one to break the silence. At least, her stomach did. She didn't feel embarassed in the least. Her body didn't have anything to digest anymore, so this natural reaction wasn't strange. Not that she felt very hungry though. She felt kind of numb actually. The cold man didn't even flinch a bit, almost seeming as if he hadn't heard anything at all. The girl still eyed him, expecting him to make a sudden movement again she didn't expect like earlier. After about ten minutes of silence her muscles seemed to relax again, and it was at this moment Kratos stood up, causing her to tense directly again. It was time to move on. She had caught her breath again, and the auburn haired man didn't feel like staying around here any longer. He didn't want to take the risk of staying here longer, and let her die of starvation. Thus, he gestured for her to get up. He was forced to carry her again, since it was highly unlikely she'd be able to travel to long road to the most nearby town named Luin. Although, it was only a small effort for him due to his well developed muscles. Flying her wouldn't be any good although it'd be shorter that way. First of all, she might get a heart attack, especially in this state, and second, he didn't want to have any unnecessary complications for now.

He waited there for a few seconds, but she didn't get up, in stead looked away from him. "Humph..." He grabbed the brown fabric collar of her ragged suit, that made a soft ripping sound as he did so, and pulled her up. He made sure not to choke her in the process though, since he lifted her with his remaining free arm by wrapping it around her waist. Once again he held her in the 'bridal' way, and so they set off. She didn't bother slamming his chest this time, although she had a strong urge to do so. The more she thought about it, the happier she was for this occasion actually. In the ranch there had been no hope to escape at all. Like this, she was able to flee as soon as she had found the strength to do so. Anyone could bet on it that she would if the oppertunity would arise. Her ignorance of Kratos's capabilities prevented her from knowing she simply couldn't. He never slept. He never let his guard down. He never showed any mercy. There was no way she could change that, but she didn't know. Kratos paced in a certain calming rythm further and further. Luin was still a long way to go, at this rate they wouldn't make it before night would set in. She'd have to do a bit longer without food, unless he'd go out and hunt for a bit. However, that meant leaving her alone for a while, and he wouldn't do that. The Angellus project shouldn't be exposed to dangerous situations at all, so Kratos would prevent that from happening at any cost. She had to eat if she wanted to survive though, but for all he cared, the girl could eat grass. The sun had already set on its way down, attempting to reach the horizon within the next few hours.

Several hours later the two of them went through a clearing in the forest. The sky had become orange and purple coloured meanwhile, with a bit of pink at seeral places. It was a beautiful sight, but the sun itself couldn't be seen, due to the shadows of the trees around them blocking it. The limp body in his arms suddenly started to tense again. Most likely she had dozed off, and regained her consciousness just now. "...Where are we going?" Were the first words she pronounced in quite a while. Her voice was a bit hoarse, and her brown eyes were half closed. Her pupils had to get adjusted to the orange light, even though it was faint. It made the auburn colour of the man look red, and her own lightorange, with a small golden border around it. "Luin." The man stated firm and stopped his pace, putting her down at her bare feet in the short grass. A while ago lightning must've struck at this place, since there was burned wood all over the place. However, nature was already regaining the ground, resulting in grass growing rapidly over the place, although it wasn't that long yet as mentioned before. She almost fell, not having used her legs to stand on for a long time, but she managed to keep standing.

The word that this horrible man said repeated itself several times in her head. Luin. The town where she was born and grew up. The town she loved dearly. Over and over the word repeated itself. She was going home! No, wait, surely she wasn't, whatever it was, this man had no good intentions, and she knew it. She would prepare for the worst, like she had done up to now. By doing so, everything else seemed to be 'better' in one way or another. When she thought about it, it was just logical to go to Luin, since it was the nearest town. The man probably didn't even know that she was attached to the city, and would long to return. What exactly was he planning to do there? She was confused, thinking of all kinds of posibilities, but none of them seemed quite well. He had mentioned something taking care of a project, which she was without a doubt. She raised her hand slightly, looking at the crystalline blue orb at her right hand. "..." If only she didn't have this, everything would be so much easier. She looked up again, noticing that the man with the auburn veil covering his eyes was breaking some large branches from living trees. There was no dead wood at the ground, that had all been burned up, so there was no other choice really. It was a strange sight, to see how he held a pile of branches under his left arm, while the other broke of others without any effort, like it were small twigs. Soon he was done, and walked back towards her, leaving the partially damaged trees.

In a nonchelant movement he threw the pile at the ground in front of her. Host body A012 quickly took a step back, being afraid the heavy wood would fall on her feet. Luckily enough it didn't. The to her unknown man kneeled down, balancing himself on his toes ocne again, as he put the branches diagonal, making them rest against each other. The basic campfire construction. The girl sat down, realizing they weren't going to travel any longer today. She sat in the same position as she had done up to now, apparantly it had become some sort of habit. She blinked once, and the fire was lit to her surprisement. What she didn't know was that the skilled Seraphrim had simply used a small fireball to lighten things up, instead of whacking special stones together. He drew his hand back, stood up, took some some steps backwards, and sat down, imitating the host body's position. Kratos stared in the fire. He had no need for fire, he barely could feel heat or cold to begin with, but for the host body it must feel pleasant, since it was starting to get cold already. It indeed did, and she shifted a bit closer to the fire. She didn't look at it, but stared at her abductor instead. He didn't seem to have any particular interest in anything so far, except for this strange-blue-orb-project, but that wasn't anything positive. 'It seems like he's some kind of doll, controlled by someone else.' she couldn't resist to think as she looked at his emotionless face. He wasn't bad looking at all, but she put that thought directly out of her head.

She didn't want to think anything positive about him, looks could be deceiving. The only thing she knew about him was his name since the Desian mentioned it earlier, which was Kratos, and that he was someone important to the Desians since they adressed him as Lord, but nothing more than that. She tried to see if he was a half elf too, like the Desians, just to check, but the bangs covered his ears. Well, she'd just assume he was for now. It'd be strange if an elf or a human would be leading half elves after all. She swallowed once, as all of a sudden she felt his piercing look placed upon her, as if he was reading her mind, reading through every word she thought carefully. To be honest, the thought itself freaked her out. As if she was caught doing something bad on the spot she directly looked away from him. Aftwer a few minutes when she thought it was 'safe' to look again she turned her head back in its original position, only to find out he was still focusing at her. This made her feel embarassed somehow, and she felt the heat rise at her cheeks. It couldn't be seen because her face was covering in the light of the fire anyway. And so, the awkward silence continued.

"...Why Luin?" The girl asked, having her arms still wrapped around her legs, not feeling so embarassed anymore as she had been stared at. The crackling of the fire was the only thing to be heard for a while, until the man finally replied with his soothing voice. "To get shelter and food." He simply told her, two of the priorities in order for mankind to survive. What he said was nothing but the truth, but he'd make sure not to let the project out in the open if they were in Luin. People would start to question why she was walking around in such ragged clothes, unless he'd buy some new ones. On top of that, she could tell others what she had gone through, and request them to save her, or the others at the ranch. Even if they would attempt to do so they'd be slaughtered off, and even though Kratos didn't give any mercy in general; he didn't like shedding blood if it could be avoided. Thus, he'd keep her in the inn or so. It'd only be a temporary stay though, after a while they'd continue to move on, so that their long stay wouldn't get suspicious. "Oh..." The girl replied, still looking at him. He also looked at her, without any reason in particular. He was just used to looking people in the eyes, which had a very intimidating effect mostly. The man was fully aware of that fact, and didn't always do it because of that. A shiver ran down A012's spine, causing her to tremble for a moment. The sun had set, and the fire was now the only thing that emitted light. The air was fresh, and probably too chill for the girl despite the fire. After all, she only had some thin and half ripped apart tunic.

"What is this project I hear about?" She finally asked. She did know there was some sort of 'purpose' of sucking the life out of the people by using those little gems. She hadn't noticed yet that Kratos had one placed at himself. Although, that one possesed a key crest, thus it wasn't sucking the man's life away. In fact, it was improving his abilities, for as far needed. Key crests were hard to make though, it was a special dwarven technology. "...I have no need to explain." Just the sort of reply the woman had expected. Why would he tell anyway? It was not like it would make anything better. She let out a sigh. It couldn't be heard by normal people, but Kratos wasn't normal anymore. Average people would only see her chest rising, but thanks to Kratos's keen hearing he could hear it as well. The awkward silence set in again, but somehow Anna got the urge to break it, even if it was just to annoy him. She had figured out this guy wasn't talkactive at all, obviously he wouldn't likeher talking the whole time, but pity enough for him that was exactly what she was planning to do. "In case you'd like to know; my name is Anna. Anna Irving." She told him, but he didn't give any comment in return. What did he care about her name? To him she was just a project, another matter that was to be taken care of. "What's your name? Kratos, isn't it?" "..." The man still didn't reply. "I bet you're really shy, huh?" She said, teasing, just to annoy him, getting a slight frown out of him. She felt satisfied to get at least some reaction. "Hey, you know, it--" He interrupted her. "It would be best if you would regain your energy by sleeping. I will not carry you tomorrow." He stated cold.

"Hmm..." The woman who had revealed herself as Anna mumbled, taking his words into consideration. After a while, she complied, and lay down on her side at the rough grass, her back facing the fire. She didn't wish him a good night. She hoped that he'd have a sleepless night in stead, just to make her feel better. The ironic thing was that he actually would stay awake, just like the past 4000 years, but how was she supposed to know? Eventually her breathing was so stable that Kratos believed she was asleep. He undid himself of the leather belts at the upper part of his costume, and took it of, only to be left in his warm darkblue weater with a high collar, and of course the lower parts of his costume such as trousers and boots. He'd be warm enough. He never felt cold to begin with. He lifted it, and walked over to A012, kneeling down next to her. She didn't have to catch a cold, which was why he carefully put it over her as a blanket. What he didn't know was that she wasn't asleep yet, but what did it matter?


	4. Obligation

Disclaimer: Do I own Tales of Symphonia? -Checks- Nope, I still don't. I hope you'll enjoy chapter four!

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The host body curled up a bit as she felt the fabric placed over her. Due to the man's body warmth the clothing was still warm as he put it on her, but that thought partially freaked her out. She could hear him pacing around restlessy for some reason she couldn't point out, and eventually she did fall asleep. She awoke the next morning, and gave off a yawn. She opened her pretty chocolate brown eyes, only to see a pair of black shoes. The lady blinked once in surprisement and backed away slightly, a natural reflex, in case he was about to hit her face with his foot. This wasn't the case however. She lifted her body, and rested partially at her elbow. The next thing she did was gazing upwards, looking at Kratos's face from below. This way he even looked scarier than the day before. "We should move on." He said calm. His voice didn't sound hoarse or anything similar; he probably had been awake for quite some time already. Maybe she had woken up because he had given her a push or so? She sat down now, not resting her body weight on her elbow anymore. She didn't dare to strech herself out in his presence, not now that he was gazing at her like that. She just looked up at him. It almost seemed as he if he was waiting for something. She opened her mouth, being about to reply since she assumed that was what he waited for, but he proved her wrong, since he walked on ahead as soon as she did so. She picked up the upperpart of his costume, putting it around her shoulders, since she still felt cold. "Strange guy..." She thought to herself, standing up, not being quite stable yet as her body swayed back and forth a bit.

When Kratos had been staring at her earlier his mind had wandered off. His face was stoic as he walked on, hearing the footsteps of the girl behind him. He was pondering if any of the Desians had notified Mithos of this event yet. If they hadn't, then Mithos would seriously be wondering what took Kratos so long to bring out report. The seraphrim didn't have much faith in those no-brainers, who only fought for someone else, Mithos Yggdrasill to be exact, not being able to stand on their own legs. It was at that moment realized he was being a 100 percent hypocrite, but he could live with that. He looked over his broad shoulder, seeing that the girl kept a safe distance in between of them. It was either because she was still too weak to walk fast, or that she despised him so much she didn't want to be any closer. Maybe even a combination of both. He let out an interceptible sign of annoyance, and stopped his pace. When he did, she didn't walk on to catch up with him, just like he had expected. He turned around, heading in her direction. She was just too slow, especially for Kratos who was used to travelling at high speed. "..." He didn't say anything as he stopped in front of her. She looked at him wearily, but with a natural curiosity as he turned around, only being inches away from her with his back. As a result, she took a step back as he bent a bit through his knees, having no clue what it was that he wanted. Before she fully realized it she was on his strong back though. Piggyback-ride style. His arms were partially wrapped around her half bare upperlegs, and he straightened his back, forcing the girl to grab his shoulders that way. If she didn't want to fall off at least, that is.

Because of this, the upperpart of his outfit slipped from her hands and fell with a soft thud at the ground. Kratos took some steps backwards after that, and picked up the piece of clothing with some effort, being careful not to fall over. Once again he stood up straight. With that he set off, not paying attention to the slightly confused girl at his back. Didn't he say he wasn't going to carry her anymore today? As usual, Kratos had reasons for his actions. Of course, as he mentally stated before, this would be way faster. Besides, in this position her body weight, even though it wasn't much, was more spread over his body, thus making it easier for him to carry her. Not that it was much of a difference, but it'd be more comfortable for her as well. He could feel her hands clenched his shoulder, making sure she wouldn't fall off. It was an a bit clumsy position for her, but she refused to put her arms around his neck.

A few hours of pure silence later, a town could be seen in the distance as they left the forest area. Anna's arm muscles were stiff, from remaining in the same uncomfortable position the whole time. That way she had forced the auburn haired man to walk up right the whole time, decreasing his balance slightly that way, but it hadn't given him any trouble luckily. "Luin..." Anna whispered to herself, not realizing she actually said that out loud. "What about it?" The cold man asked, making her realize she hadn't only been thinking the word. That way, the tense silence had finally been broken. And getting some background information of the project wouldn't be bad either, now would it? If necessary, he could always predict her actions with it. "...Nothing." She answered, not planning on giving this rude man a peek into her private life, for as far as anything was left of that. Despite the fact he had provided her of restricted freedom and a 'blanket' for the night she didn't like him. He was the leader of this project she was involved in apparantly. That was what her ignorance of Mithos's excistance caused. The man didn't insist on letting her talk against her will, he'd figure it all out by himself then.

They walked through the grassy plains surrounding Luin, the city of Hope. The wind tugged playfully at their bangs, and the sun shone bright, just like the day before. Anna thought she saw something black moving in the distance, and narrowed her eyes. She couldn't see it clear enough, and just focused on the town ahead. Kratos had noticed it as well, but wasn't alarmed or anything similar. After about half an hour they reached the border of the town. It was at this time that Kratos put her down. Having her legs unused in quite some time now Anna couldn't help but stumble backwards, only to be reassured by the firm grip at her arm from the swordsman, who dragged her up. "Humph." He muttered softly, and released her upperarm as soon as she managed to stand on her own again. She withdrew her arm, eyeing him with a slight frown. She was either wondering about something, or mad at him for grabbing her like that. Not paying any mind to what she'd think of him he put on the upperpart of his outfit again, tying the belts together. "Come." He commanded, walking forwards. She followed reluctant. They walked through the main street, and the first building they saw, and entered, was the town's inn. He held the door opened for the girl, something this cruel person normally would never do to a lower ranked apprentice. On top of that, she wasn't even an apprentice. She walked in, having a look of recognation in her eyes, but he didn't notice. Yet. He walked over to the counter, and ordered a room from the old lady who was behind the ebony wooden desk. He paid an amount of gald Anna could not see. The only thing that she hoped was that the prices had doubled since she had gone away, just to get this man poor. Pity enough for her it was unlikely that he would, he was the leader of an enormous organization after all.

Kratos took the key of the room he had rent, and walked back towards Anna. He realized that the woman behind the counter was frowning slightly, as if she was recalling something. The man's gaze went back and forth between the two females a few times before he took her by her arm and head upstairs with her. It was best as less people as possible would know of her presence in town. He unlocked the door's room, pushed her in carefully, and looked at her as she turned around to face him. He looked past her. The windows were locked. Good. "I will return soon." He said calm against her with his usual soothing voice. Anna blinked once in surprise, but before she could say anything in return the door slammed shut right in front of her, and the sound of a door being locked could clearly be heard. Kratos didn't warn her to be silent. If he would, she would most likely make as much noise as possible. "Hey, you can't just do that!" She yelled after him anyway, banging her fist against the wooden door. It was no use, since he was already on his way out. He put the bronze key in his pocket, and left the inn, ignoring the glance of the old lady.

Not long after he was some more small bridges further on ahead, receiving some glances from the townsfolk. Because of his keen hearing he knew it was sometimes of admiration, either because of his looks or his outfit, and sometimes of suspiciousness. They didn't all seem to trust strangers that much. He walked past a wrecked house, the work of Desians without a doubt. After a while he entered a small shop, with a mid-aged man behind the counter, something around 40 Kratos estaminated. The shopkeeper greeted him friendly, being glad there was a customer again, and Kratos gave a very small nod in response to acknowledge his presence. He browsed in the clothes section, not finding anything suitable at all. "Can I help?" The man asked friendly with a ragged voice as he walked over to the auburn haired man. "...I'm looking for some cheap clothes." Was his reply, not eyeing the man at all, not only because his bangs prevented him from doing so. "Oh, okay! Let me have a look..." With that he disappeared, leaving Kratos to search on his own. Eventually he came back, holding a new looking sweater with a high collar, similar to Kratos's, but then in a darkred colour. Obviously the man thought that this man was buying something for himself. It passed muster. However, he didn't assume it was the cheapest thing the man had laying around. Once again the man disappeared, now returning with a pair of white pants, also looking quite new. He decided he'd also take that one. He had gald enough anyway, and never really spend it.

Furthermore, he bought a pair of socks, a pair of brown leather kneeboots with lacets, a similar brown coloured belt, and last but certainly not least; a darkred cape which matched the turtleneck sweater. "That would be fine..." He murmered as he put the clothing on the counter as the man started calculating the price. "...I assume you don't have any bra's?" He added hesitatingly, although his voice sounded confident as ever. The merchant seemed to be a bit taken off guard by this question. "Uh...Yeah, sure. What size?" Kratos blinked once, honestly having no clue for the first time in quite a while. "...Just pick one." He replied, and the man gave a slow nod. Soon he came back again with the piece of clothing requested, and got paid for it. Kratos put all the clothes underneath his arm, and left again. "Thank you." He mumbled as he left the door, but it was highly unlikely the man had heard him. One way or another he said goodbye to his customer, being happy to have made such a big profit today. Kratos head back towards the inn, not receiving any more glances for now.

He unlocked the door and walked in. Thonk! Kratos's right eyebrow twitched slightly, and he grabbed Anna by her waist with his free hand as she tried to rush past him in a hurry. "Not so fast!" He took a step forward, dragging her away from the door opening, and closed the door behind him with his foot. "Let go off me!" She yelled as she struggled to get free. He pushed her roughly away so that he'd have enough time to lock the door behind him, which he did with his free hand. She stumbled backwards, and landed on the bed clumsily. He put the key back in his pocket, and rubbed the spot at his head where he had been hit. He looked at the wooden vase at the ground where she had hit him with in her desperate attempt to escape. "Hmm..." He just mumbled unimpressed and walked over to her, throwing all the clothes, except for the boots, on top of her so that she was covered by it. Kratos stopped rubbing his head. "I don't think I'll buy clothes for you again at this rate..." He said dryly without any expression in particular at his handsome face as he looked at how the host body named Anna struggled to get out of the pile of clothes. It was a sorry sight, but soon after her head popped out of the pile. Kratos surpressed a smile. It just looked so...so...he couldn't find the fitting word for it. The girl blinked a few times in surprise. She had probably been expecting she'd escape easily like that, but oh, how wrong she was. There was no way she'd be able to do that if Kratos was her guard.


	5. Accomodation

Disclaimer: Tales of Symphonia is not mine...I think that would be obvious at this point. -Unsheatens sword- Enjoy! And thank you everyone for reviewing, it makes me all happy!

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The hostbody pushed the clothes with which she was covered forcefully away, glaring at the man, who didn't seem to have any expression in particular at his face. She opened her mouth, with the intention to say he should just let her go. She was fed up with being locked up. She wanted to go home. Now. She was so close, and yet so far away from it at the same time. Her own house was near the town's fountain. It was small and cosy, a cottage to be exact. Maybe she could convince that Kratos somehow to leve her alone. He didn't seem like he was going to conceed easily to that plan, but it was worth a try. Pity enough for her, he had already left before she could say her thoughts. He was already locking the door with the bronze key behind him. Her right brown eyebrow twitched slightly. He sure had some nerve... She inhaled, resulting in her chest rising, and gave off a long sigh. She hung forward, her elbows resting on her upperlegs, and her chin in her hands as she remained sitting on the bed. Her tired and defeated gaze was now rested upon the clothes, that were at the ground for a part now because of her action earlier. She blinked slowly once with her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. She recalled he had mentioned something about buying clothes for her as he had returned, after locking her up for the first time, but she didn't rememberwhat he exactly said. The lowered her hands, and stood up.

Meanwhile Kratos had went downstairs once again, heading towards the old lady who owned the inn. He stood still in front of the counter, and the lady tucked some of her grey thin bangs behind her ear, looking up at the man. "Hello, how may I help you?" She asked friendly, as a host should. "I would like to order some breakfast...A large portion." With that, he got some gald out of the leather pouch attached to one of his belts, and lay it in front of her at the counter. She looked at it. That was a rather generous payment! She'd do her best. She gave an enthusiast nod. "Oh, and a washtub as well..." The angel added, not bothering to say please, since he was paying a lot anyway. Not only would the host body need food, but she also needed to be clean. It could be disastrous if she got an infection or illness because of bad hygienic, especially if she was in such a weakened state. "Oh, yes, but I'm afraid I can't carry one full of water on my own..." The woman said with some kind of embarassed smile present at her face. Kratos had been expecting this, she couldn't even walk totally up straight anymore, she probably had something with her back. "I understand." The ancient being said with a small nod. The old lady returned the nod, and went off to prepare this customer's request. He would carry it. It was a bit inconvenient when he wouldn't have both hands free when he'd go back to the host body again, but it couldn't be helped. He waited patiently for the woman to return, and glanced around a bit.

About twenty minutes later she returned with a wooden tray, full of bread, cheese, vegetables, a large glass of milk, and even roasted meat, which was quite expensive in 'abandoned' areas like this. In Thete'alla that was different. Well, partially. The elite there had enough money there to buy meat, which was relatively expensive, since the beasts needed to eat grass and other plants to produce flesh in the end. The poorer people there needed those plants to let themselves stay alive. If they'd give it to a beast to produce meat, they'd starve to death. It was like that in Meltokio, but here it wasn't that drastic yet, luckily. Kratos took the tray from her, and she said that she'd go an prepare the washtub now. Kratos would first bring the food to the female named Anna then. He head upstairs, quietly so that he wouldn't make the host body aware of his arrival, and stood in front of the rented room's door. If she knew he was there, she probably would've hit him another time with a vase and try to escape. Like this, he had the advantage. He held the tray in his left hand, and got the key out of his pocket with his right hand. He was smart enough to put his foot in front of the door, and put his body weight on that. That way, she couldn't just open the door and varge out from the inside. He unlocked the door, and head inside quickly, closing the door behind him as fast as possible. He had his crimson gaze fixed upon the lock as he did so, and his back faced the rest of the room.

Anna was startled as the door suddenly opened and that Kratos guy came in again, his white swallow tailed fabric flowing behind him. A shiver ran down her spine for some reason. It could either be because she was finding it a scary thought that she hadn't even heard him coming, or that she was unbelievable tired and cold. He turned around to face her, and she could see how he held a large tray full of delicious food. Her body tensed as he walked in her direction, holding the tray in two hands now. Kratos looked at the clothes that were now neatly folded at the bed, and then back at the host body. He didn't fully understand why she, out of all things, would start folding clothes in a situation like this, facing the fact she was being trapped. Maybe she had done it to get her mind off of things for a minute or so. One way or another, the man didn't find it interesting, and put the tray down next to her on the bed. He took some steps back, and sat down on an old wooden chair that was a few steps away from the bed. He folded his arms over his chest as he leaned backwards, staring at the hostbody. It resembled some kind of hateful look as he had his eyes narrowed, but that wasn't his intention. Anna didn't feel comfortable in the least, and just turned her head away from him to avoid that look, gazing at the meal.

Had he bought, or made breakfast for her? The first thought that popped into her mind was that it may be poisiouness, but that wouldn't make sense, since earlier at the ranch he said that he'd take better care of here than the Desians there, or something like that. So far, it hadn't seemed like he was going to murder her...More like the little blue thing on her hand would do that for him. Anna wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but what she did know was that she was starving. Oh well, what did it matter if there was someone present while she was eating? She wouldn't rather die than to eat in his presence, stubborn as she was. As if to proof her determination she took a slice of bread, put cheese, vegetables, and meat at it. She gave him a glare, as if he had said something mean about her, and took a firm bite, chewing. It was his silence that bothered her. Not that she wanted to talk to this filthy Desian, still assuming he was a half elf, but it just made her feel tense. She was used to talk alot, and was a very compassionate person in general. She couldn't stand awkward silences like this. She took another large bite, continueing to glare at him, attempting to intimidate him in some way, but she failed miserable. She didn't manage to get a reaction out of him, and just continued eating, looking at the ground instead now. Crumbles were sticking to her full lips, but she herself didn't notice. Eventually the Desian Leader spoke.

"...Eating it all at once may cause you to die." Kratos said in a very serious tone, recieving a perplexed look from the Angelus Project in return. What was he talking about? Due to the lack of experience, Anna didn't know that he was indeed right. If you hadn't eaten for a long time, and suddenly would start eating a lot, your body wouldn't be able to handle it, resulting in death. Kratos had ordered a large portion, that was true, but he would make sure she wouldn't eat it all at once to prevent this from happening. "Nonsense." Anna replied stubbornly, taking another bite. From what she knew this man wasn't the kind of type that'd make a random joke, but she decided she wanted to disagree with him as much as possible, which included now, even though he may just as well be right about what he said. "..." He just continued watching her, as she finished her slice of bread. She drunk some milk, put the glass down again, and was about to take some more bread. Pity enough, when she grabbed one she felt her wrist being held in a firm grip. This caused her to look up, looking right at the man's face. Just when had he gotten up from his seat? Apparantly she hadn't heard him coming once more. She cringed as his void crimson eyes were locked into hers. To be frank, it was scaring her, he did look at her, but it was as if he wasn't present at all, more like a ghost, or that someone else was possesing his body, although that wasn't possible; He seemed to be fully aware of his actions and words.

"As I said, I wouldn't recommend eating too much at once..." He said calm, releasing her slowly again, and she withdrew her hand immediately. She stuck out her tongue at him.

"..." Kratos left her alone again and head downstairs, going through the usual process of locking the door. That washtub with water should be ready by now. As he was downstairs it turned out he was right. There was a wooden washtub with damping hot water in it present, and a large white towel. Even some soap. the old lady wasn't around at the moment, but that wasn't bad, since she wasn't needed at the moment. He bent through his knees, and picked up the heavy washtub when he was standing up straight again. Like that he walked upstairs again. He put it down, unlocked the door, picked it quickly, and stepped inside, being carefull not to spill any of the water. Once again he put it down, and locked the door behind him, being glad that this time she hadn't attempted to escape one more time. In his rush, the towel had become partially wet, but oh well. "You can wash yourself." The seraphrim said, stating the obvious. He had no intention of washing her of course, which was more than just obvious to assume. Kratos noticed that another slice of bread was missing from the tray, as well as some more cheese, and the glass of milk was empty. "Luckily she hasn't eaten it all..." He mentally stated. The host body examined the filled washtub from a distance, and then glanced up at the male. He walked in her direction, resulting in her becoming tense once more. He didn't do anything to her, and picked up the tray. "I will return once you're done." He said calm as looked down upon her.

Without saying anything mroe, he left the room again, taking the tray with him, to make sure she wouldn't eat more when he was gone. As usual, he locked the door. He took one step away from the door, put the tray at the ground, and sat down at the wooden floor, leaning against the wall with his muscular back. He ran with his black gloved hand through his hair, and let out some kind of mixture of a sigh yawn. He never grew tired, but yawning from time to time gave a refreshing feeling that he liked. He didn't bother keeping his free hand in front of his mouth, there was no one near to see his open mouth with a perfect set of white teeth in it anyway, so it couldn't be considered impolite. He had his crimson eyes half closed, and just stared at the wall in front of him. It was perfectly silent, the old lady had probably gone out to restock after this grotesque meal he had ordered. The only thing he could hear thanks to his angelic senses was the splashing of water coming from the room. He zoned off in his own train of thoughts, thinking about this initiative of him to take the project along with him to be specific. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure if Mithos would approve. They didn't trust each other anymore, but somewhere deep in their heart there was still something left of the strong friendshipbond they used to have. Kratos assumed it would be alright. After all, the Desians didn't take care of her well enough, surely he understood that.

He wondered where they should head next. It was not possible to stay in one town for too long. One or two days here in Luin would be enough. After that, they'd start to attract attention. Surely that old lady would notice that the intimidating man was keeping that pretty lady locked up in his room all day, and, she wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut about it. The last part he had learned from experience. There was always a lot of gossiping around the place, since even the smallest things were great news here. Asgard would be a good place... A lot of tourists came there, they would stand out less if they'd stay there for a while. It was at that moment he remembered that the hosy body had some kind of special connection with this town, since she whispered its name, although she didn't want to give a further explanation. Maybe it was her hometown, or the place where she was before she got abducted by the Desians, or both. Since Luin was the closest town to the ranch it was likely they'd get someone from here. "Hmm..." He mumbled, natural curiosity setting in. He'd have to find out what kind of connection she had to this town, as if making some kind of vow, which felt strange for him to do. The splashing sound of water eventually stopped, and instead he heard the sound of fabric rubbing against a skin, she was probably drying herself off now. He blinked once, making sure he waited long enough before he would make his entrance again.


	6. Realisation

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Tales of Symphonia, but I do own my imagenation. -Nods- Anyway, my apologies for the slow update!

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As the sound of the host body drying herself off had subsided Kratos stood up from his spot outside at the hall. He waited a while longer outside, making sure that she'd have enough time to dress herself up with the new clothes he had bought for her. Eventually he knocked three times on the wooden door, in a steady rythm. "Are you decent?" He asked with his low voice, feeling as if he was using the totally wrong line for something like this, but that wasn't the case. Maybe he just felt awkward for asking. "Don't come in." Was the reply that came from the other side of the door, and Kratos got his hand away from the lock. He hadn't expected that answer. Due to his keen hearing he was quite sure that she was already done dressing up, and was about to unlock the door, but it turned out he was wrong. What he didn't know was that she was in fact dressed already, but she simply didn't want to see him. If possible, she wanted to be around him as less as possible, and this was a good oppertunity. She fiddled a bit with the long sleeves of her darkred turtleneck sweater, not being able to get rid of the itchy feeling it had in the begin. The white trouser was a bit baggy for her, but thanks to the belt it was all held in place. She had also put on her sturdy leather boots. After all, it'd be much easier to kick this way than with bare feet; she wasn't as defenseless as she looked. At least, that was what she told herself. The only thing she hadn't equipped now was the darkred cloak.

For about ten minutes Kratos stood there patiently, motionless, with a relaxed but stern look on his face. Suddenly he frowned lightly, and unlocked the door anyway. Now that he hadn't heard the sound of fabric rubbing against skin for about ten minutes he was convinced she was done putting on her clothes. With a certain determination he unlocked the door, and went in. This time he didn't lock it behind him, but he did stand in front of it, blocking her way if she wanted to get out, which she most likely did. She sat at the bed, but in a different position than first. She sat on the edge that was most far away from him, and she had her back faced in his direction. Her long hair looked almost black now that it was wet, and it seemed to be rather clean again, luckily enough for her. She looked over her shoulder, only to be seeing the one she had been expecting; her abductor. Out of protest Anna didn't say anything, and just looked uninterested at the wooden wall ahead of her. Kratos's frown had disappeared meanwhile, and he observed the host body from a distance. He didn't think of her as a person, so he didn't adress her with her real name, since that would make his duty 'harder' for him. If you would give something a name you'd automaticly grow attached to it. With Kratos however there was a slim chance he'd get attached to anything, but he didn't want to take the risk. The only creature he cared about was the Protozoan named Noishe, to a certain degree of course.

"What is your connection to Luin?" The undercover angel asked stern, as if he was an agent, and she was the suspect. It was a bit out of the blue, and totally went against his theory of not getting attached to someone or something. Kratos told himself that it was only research, thus calming his consciousness that way. Getting background information of the host body would give him an advantage in one way or another. Maybe he could adapt something to speed up the progress of the expshere development with the knowledge she'd grant him about herself. By finding out in what kind of environment she used to live in, he could start a small inquiry to see if certain conditions could affect the growth of an expshere. Anna looked over her shoulder at him, slightly surprised by this sudden question. Why would he ask something like that, for Martel's sake? "I'm being captured here by you?" She commented with a cynical look on her face, acting as if she didn't know what he meant. He saw right through her. "Before that." Was his short reply, not bothering to explain his motives. "Who are you to ask for my connections?" Anna said stubborn, turning her face away from him. Right, she was going to tell him all she knew for no apparant reason? No way. In some way, Kratos had slight respect for her way of acting, even though it annoyed him. She was able to stand up against her superiors unlike him. With her words then, at least. But then again, she didn't see him as a superior. But, if she wanted to play it this way; that was fine with Kratos as well.

"H-hey! What're you--" Anna was interrupted as she felt Kratos's strong hand at her mouth. She attempted to bite one of his fingers, but didn't succeed because his grip was too tight. "Silence." He said with a stern expression at his face. He didn't want her to attract the attention of the old woman, in case she had returned. She stopped struggling, and was pulled up by Kratos with his free muscular arm. To express it in a mild way, she didn't feel comfortable at all with this guy being so near her. As she stood and was finally silent Kratos withdrew his gloved hand, assuming she would remain quiet now. Anna took the oppertunity to the fullest, and bit him in the finger that was closest by; his pink in this case. Pity enough for her, it didn't have the effect she had expected. He didn't give off a shriek, nor did he change his facial expression to express his pain. Meanwhile he had withdrawn his arm from her with which he had pulled her up, and the only way they were connected now was by teeth and pink. Kratos slightly raised an eyebrow at this pathetic attempt to hurt him, and pulled back his hand, forcing her to let go that way. He slightly wiped off his hand at the towel she had used earlier. He then firmly grabbed the upper part of her arm, and dragged her along, out of the room. His way of acting may seem a bit violent and unnecessary, but it was needed. He had learned to show stubborn people who was in charge, and this host body was one of the most stubborn people he had met in thousands of years.

He could feel the host body glaring at him as they left the room after he had picked up her cloak, but simply ignored it. Kratos decided to leave the tray here in the hall for now; food wouldn't taste bad that quick. Well, that counted for Kratos at least, who only could faintly taste things from time to time. For the rest, everything tasted like asch in his mouth. Soon they were outside, and as they walked at the street he let go of her slowly so that he wouldn't seem suspicious. Anna walked along with him. She may be stubborn, but she wasn't stupid. If she wouldn't do that which he had said with unspoken words then the chance was there that she'd just be sent back to the room again, and be locked up. This way she would at least get to see something of the town she loved so deeply. Though, what was bothering her was that she had absolutely no clue what was going on in the head of this man. First ask about her connection to Luin, and then take her outside so forcefully? She tried to find a link between those two, and came to the conclusion that he was trying to find out something, and whatever it was, she would have to help him. Not that she was planning on helping him, but if only she knew what it was that he was after; then she would resist if possible. One way or another, it seemed they were just walking through town now, receiving some glances from the inhabitants, but that subsided soon enough.

As they walked, Kratos looked at the girl from the corner of his eyes, trying to see if she was reacting to anything in the environment. Sometimes he could see the look of recognation, followed by sadness, but yet with hope. She kept her mouth shut, but it was not like she was supposed to say anything anyway; by her body language alone Kratos could already see what she was going through. At a certain rate, after crossing some bridges, they came at the outskirts of the city, near the fountain. Most likely she didn't even notice that Kratos was looking at her as her beautiful eyes widened slightly. There it was. As good as next to the fountain. Her own house; a tiny little cottage consisting of wood. She looked away from it abruptly as her heart started to race, as if to pretend it didn't mean anything to her so that whatever this man wanted he wouldn't destroy her home. She had figured that he would be cruel enough to do something like that. Pity enough, her action made her even more suspicious, and Kratos turned his gaze towards the cottage. It turned out that this was the place that was her 'connection' to Luin. Either someone important for her would live there, or she would live there herself...Or something else of course. Maybe it even brought back bad memories for her?

"Ah, Lord Kratos." A voice said in a sly way, coming from the direction of the fountain. Kratos had already thought he had heard something when they reached this place. It turned out it was Pronyma as she came in sight. Since this were the outskirts of town, there was no person to be seen, thus the mintgreen haired female could walk around without any troubles. "Pronyma." Kratos stated simply, as if he hadn't expected anyone else but this Desian Grand Cardinal. Maybe she had news from Lord Yggdrasill about his decision to take this host body with him? It surprised him the Desians at the ranch earlier had been smart enough to report it to their leader. "Finally I've found you..." She said with a smirk on her face as she looked in the direction of the Angelus Project, and then back at the tall man. Kratos, who was a man of few words, patiently waited for the female to explain herself. As if she could read his thoughts, which she couldn't, she started to speak. "Lord Yggdrasill wishes to see you." She said with a hint of satisfaction in her voice. Without a doubt, she thought he would be punished for his actions. Pronyma found Yggdrasill beating up her superior named Kratos a very appealing thought. She had always been jealous of the position Kratos was in, since he had known Mithos for such a long time, and got the most important jobs. "Very well." Kratos said very indifferent and gave a nod.

"I will take care of that inferior being meanwhile." Pronyma said, hoping she could make a good impression for Lord Yggdrasill by doing so. She had touched a nerve there, since Kratos was just as human as that host body was. Being the only human in a whole organization which despised humans wasn't exactly easy. He knew that the female had said that on purpose, and yet he didn't seem to be affected by it at all. Anna expected him to say 'no' for some reason to that offer but she couldn't point out why. However, to her surprise the auburn haired man agreed with a simple nod. Without wasting any words he simply walked on past the fountain and then over the bridge. He didn't feel like flying at the moment. Anna looked at him until he was out of sight, which was pretty soon. Pronyma approached her, and it was only now that she noticed this half elven woman was actually hovering. This was her chance to escape! Without having any second thoughts, she spun around and ran off as fast as her legs could carry her. Due to her fear and improved condition since she had been taken away from the ranch, it was pretty fast. Pronyma had no plans of letting her escape and soon caught up with her, grabbing her arms roughly and twisting it to her back. Anna cried out in pain as response, not being heard by anyone in town. Even if she was, they'd be too scared of the Desian to help out, even though it was only one. Cursed half elves! Why couldn't they just leave her alone? Just because of one little stone?!

"Now now...You're not supposed to do things like that..." Pronyma said deadly calm, and a wicked grin crept across her face, but Anna couldn't see. The mint green haired Desian seemed to have thought up some wonderful plan, and dragged the host body back to where she had first attempted to escape; in front of her house. She had seen that the host body seemed attached to it, since she had looked away so quickly from it. "That's your house, isn't it?" She said slyly, sounding like a snake. Anna didn't reply, and struggled to get free instead, without result. "Because of your insolence, you will be punished..." Pronyma said, and gave a chuckle afterwards as she reached out with her hand towards the house. "Look at your house, human!" She said in an anger outburst, and twisted her arm so that she was forced to look that way. Before she fully realized it, her house was on fire. She opened her mouth slightly in disbelief and her eyes filled with tears. Her last resort, her memories, her life...Just how...Just how could she?! Anna's eyes narrowed, causing some tears to roll down her cheek, and she sniffled, much to Pronyma's satisfaction. She was too shocked to even attempt another escape. "Hihihi! Now, let's get going." She said, and Anna just looked at her house as the burning wooden bars fell down, crashing at the ground. She didn't even notive the mintgreen circle with strange patterns appearing underneath her, and that she was starting to disappear into nowhere, just like Pronyma.


	7. Cooperation

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Yup, you heard it right. Anyway, since the last update was so slow, here's fast one as an apology, hope you'll like it!

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"There you are, Kratos..." Said the tall blonde haired man, still sitting at his throne at the strangely decorated brown floor. The blonde half elf had a stoic look upon his face unlike last time, when he had had a satisfied expression. Kratos's was even more stern. The purple and black coloured athmosphere around them whirled around as usual, but they didn't look at it. They had their eyes locked at each others' instead, almost as if it was a staring contest. "..." Kratos cast his gaze downwards and bowed slightly, losing the stare contest in which he hadn't participated on purpose. "Lord Yggdrasill..." He said in response, which was nothing more than a formality, straightening his back afterwards. "Kratos, I've been thinking..." Kratos assumed this was about the decision he took, but he was wrong. "'Age of Lifeless Beings'...How does that sound to you?" His stoic expression changed into a wicked smile; A way of smiling that disgraced Mithos's face in every way possible. Kratos was slightly taken by surprise, but you couldn't notice, since nothing in his behaviour changed. He just remained silent as ever. An Age of Lifeless beings? What was Mithos talking about? "Martel's final wish can finally be granted this way." Yggdrasill's wicked smile became a content one instead, and he leaned forward in his throne, as if he was going to tell Kratos an important secret. What he wanted to say was similar to that.

Kratos didn't interrupt his superior, his natural curiosity setting in again of what his former friend meant. "Crystals, Kratos. Expsheres, Kratos. Without a doubt you know that they're created from human lives more than anyone else. You also do know that their spirits remain in the Crystal, unable to do anything but watch their surroundings for eternity?" Kratos gave a nod, having the gut feeling that Mithos would lose the last remaining sanity he had. He was right. "If we turn everyone into lifeless beings like that, they will all be the same, and so discrimination will stop! A world without discrimination, just like my sister wanted! Isn't that wonderfull?" He said happily, leaning back in his throne with his hands folded behind his head. It was official; Mithos had gone mad. Despite the fact the crimson eyed man was as cold hearted as one cold be, deep inside he did have a bit of compassion left. This was unethical. Kratos simply couldn't approve of something like this. Discrimination couldn't be stopped like that, what was he thinking? Even if it would, the price it would cost wasn't worth it. The whole world population? Insanity. What had happened to his old friend Mithos in all these years? He had changed since Martel had been killed, Kratos should've seen this coming. "..." The tall man didn't give a reply to Mithos's rethorical question. "You'll help me, won't you, Kratos?" Mithos asked him cheerfully as he looked hopefully at the man with his beautiful green eyes. Surely his old teacher wouldn't turn his apprentice down, now would he?

"...Yes." Kratos replied as he closed his eyes for a second. His answer was the opposite of his true intention. He wouldn't let Mithos fall into despair with this insane plan of him. He wasn't going to help out this time. In fact, he opposed this whole idea, but he couldn't say 'no' to Mithos. Not now. In other words, it would come down to back stabbing his friend, as a figure of speech. He swallowed once, and his adam's apple moved. He didn't like the idea of that at all, but he had no choice. It was to protect the inhabitants of the world, as well as an attempt to make Mithos regain his true self. If he would realize it was an unthinkable thing to do, then maybe...But then again, splitting the world had seem like an unthinkable thing to do too. "Thank you." Mithos said friendly. Kratos looked up slightly at him; those two words had been something he hadn't heard in a long time. Without a doubt this new goal was very important to Mithos if he even thanked him for his aid in advance, but Kratos had figured as much already. After all, this was about granting his sister's final wish. Mithos looked at Kratos with a content smile. For all these thousands of years he had been with him, and yet again he was willing to help him out; the half elf hadn't expected otherwise. Even though this man's heart was made of stone, his sometimes soft hearted behaviour made him weak. However, there had been some times that Kratos had defied his wishes, which caused him to lose some of his faith in the magical swordsman, but he didn't care since he was aiding him on this important mission. "Oh, and Kratos..." He said as he looked at the man who was about to leave again. "About that Angelus Project; I entrust it to you."

The man gave a nod as answer to his superior. Unlike Pronyma, he hadn't expected to be punished to begin with. The highest Mithos would do was let someone else be in charge of project, but Mithos was smart enough to know that then the subject would get starved again. And, since he wanted the Cruxis Crystal to develop as good as possible inside her body, he knew that it was the best to let Kratos take care of her; He always worked very efficient, unlike many of the lower subordinates. Kratos left the throne room, with the intention to retrieve host body A012. A smirk appeared at Mithos's face as he watched the old angel walk away. "You're a loyal dog, Kratos...But as we all known even the most loyal dogs can bite the hand that feeds them. You'll have to proof your loyalty...I'm not stupid." The angelic half elf whispered to himself as soon as Kratos was so far away from him that Mithos was sure that even with the crimson eyed man's angelic hearing his words couldn't be heard. No matter how long he had known Kratos, or how much he had cared about him in the past; he had opposed several of his important plans earlier. For example when he had tried to erradicate the inhabitants of the elven village Heimdall. Kratos had restained him from doing so. It was as if he had a sudden mood change, since he wasn't trusting Kratos at all now, but he found that he had all reason to not trust Kratos. Even though he said 'yes', Mithos was very suspicious towards him. After all, humans were all the same...

Meanwhile Anna sat in a forest, against a tree with her arms wrapped around her legs; just the way she sat when that auburn haired half elf had first seen her. Pronyma stood in front of her, not keeping her eyes off of the lady for even one second. She was doing an important job for Lord Yggdrasill now, he would be proud of her! She had teleported together with this filthy human to a more calm area, but still fairly near Luin, and was determined not to let her escape. "Now look at you sobbing, aren't you a pathetic little creature..." Pronyma pestered her, just because she thought it was fun and to relieve her stress. Normally she didn't have to chance to lash out at anyone but half elves, but since they were of the same race as she was she didn't usually. "You're nothing but trash, only good to be of our service to be eaten by a parasite." She gave off a high pitched giggle, but Anna didn't bother to lift up her head to look at her. Instead, her body tensed, and she tried her best to ignore her words. "Despicable inferior human, I'm not surprised your family didn't even attempt to rescue you." She snickered. The host body didn't seem to be pleased of this as new tears welled up in her eyes. How dared she...The Desians had killed them all off even before she got captured, and yet she had the guts to talk like that? If she was able to, Anna would've made sure she would be punished for what she said right there and then, but of course she couldn't. That 'Pronyma' what that other half elf had called her was very heavy armored, and her heavy weapon wasn't to be underestimated either.

It was at that moment she heard something rustle behind her. It wasn't the soft wind that played with the leaves of the plants around here, since it was only a very quick rustle. She didn't dare or bother to look up. However, Pronyma did, and checked her environment. She assumed it was another monster, and took out her weapon, holding it tightly. A large creature walked casually out of the bushes, as if it had gone for a walk in the park. Pronyma put away her weapon again, and by this time Anna had also looked in the direction of the source of the sound. Her eyes widened slightly. A dog? And it was huge! That wasn't the strangest part though, since it had a green and white fur, and ridiculous big ears. In a reflex she stood up, not being comfortable with the fact that she was placed lower than this mutated dog. It didn't seem he had any bad intentions, but you could never be too careful. It was then that she noticed the half elven female didn't seem to be scared of it either, although her body was tense. The creature gave of a bark, which startled both of them, causing them to jump up slightly. Or hover up slightly.

Host body A012 pressed herself against the tree with her back, as if that would help to stay away from that creature. She had once been bitten a wolf; she wasn't exactly comfortable with the thought it might happen again. The creature came towards her with a wagging tail, and she seemed to calm down a bit. Despite its weird looks it acted like a normal dog. Still, she didn't dare to move as he sniffed at her leg, and then sat dow in front of her, giving of another bark. Anna seemed to relax a bit seeing as it hadn't attacked her yet, and dared to move a bit away from the tree. The creature, who was none other than Noishe the Protozoan, Kratos's faitfhfull pet, blinked a few times with its purple eyes. Noishe was just roaming around the place as usual. It was not like Kratos was actually his owner and was keeping him near. Well, he was technically seen his pet, but Kratos almost considered him a human. Since Noishe was a protozoan, he would eventually turn human. He had been on earth for as long as Kratos, but the difference between the two of them despite their appearance and personality etc. was that Noishe was the first life form ever appeared on earth. Not many were aware of this fact, but the auburn haired man was. The only other ones who were aware of this would be Mithos, Yuan, or someone who would've studied history. However, the education level here in Sylvarant was less than average.

Anna blinked once and looked down upon the remarkable creature as it was still wagging its tail. It was not as if Noishe was dumb to come this close to people, but he trusted his intuition more than any other creature. Combined with the pragmatic way of thinking like a human he always knew who to trust and who not. This girl seemed to be trustworthy unlike Pronyma, whom he had already met before. She had kicked him in the stomach back then because she thought he was a monster. She should've known better, especially since Kratos was around at that time... Since Noishe had been roaming around some days, and his back was terrible itchy, he decided to go in and beg for some attention. The host body reached out with her hands as if he was a little cub, wanting to attempt to touch this creature, just to see if it was real. "Don't touch that." Pronyma said stern, as if that girl was about to do something she would regret. It wasn't quite clear if she said that because she was fearing for the Angelus Project development, or simply because she was afraid that Kratos might punish her for letting that project touch his pet. Automaticly she withdrew her hand at the order in fear of the consequences, resulting in the dog starting to whine disappointed.

After a short while it stood up from its place, and made some kind of threatening gutteral sound as it walked slowly over to Pronyma. In a reflex she drew her scepter, planning on defending herself with it. The creature gritted its long and sharp white teeth and stopped his pace. It could clearly be seen his body was all tense. This behaviour of the dog-like animal made Anna glad that she hadn't petted him after all, who knew what might have happened? Or maybe, did the dog's behaviour depend on the person it approached? "Get away from me!" Pronyma exclaimed as she backed away a little, clenching her dangerous scepter tightly. Noishe took one step closer as if to dare her. Not a very wise decision, since she swung it at him. In her action, she was roughly stopped as she felt her wrist being held in a firm grip. It was so tight that she was forced to let the scepter slip out of her hand. Despite the fact she was in pain, she didn't cry out. "I would advise you not to try that." Kratos said very stern and Pronyma cringed just by hearing his voice. He let go of her, and Noishe seemed to be all happy again as he barked. The brown haired girl's eyes were widened. Just how was it possible for him to appear like that without even being noticed? He had done that before, but obviously it still made her wonder. Pronyma picked up her scepter again, and Kratos stood right in front of the mint green haired female, only one step away from her. "Lord Yggdrasill assigned me to take care of the Angelus project. You may withdraw now." A furious look appeared on the half elf's face. So, he got the big job again, huh? "Understood, Lord Kratos." She said as polite as possible before she teleported away, much to Anna's surprisement, since she hadn't actually seen the teleporting when she was taken by that half elf.


	8. Appreciation

Disclaimer: Nah, I still don't own Tales of Symphonia despite the fact it's in the middle of the night. -Rubs eyes- I hope you'll enjoy chapter eight!

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As soon as the cruel mintgreen haired woman was teleported away Noishe gave of another bark and jumped up to Kratos, placing its heavy paws at his muscular chest. "Hey there..." He muttered softly so that it barely could be heard, and rubbed the green manes of the creature severly. Noishe attempted to stand up even more straight, so that Kratos would scratch his itchy back instead, and so it happened. The protozoan wagged his tail even faster, being glad he finally saw Kratos again, which normally someone would find very surprising. In fact, everyone avoided Kratos as much as they could, mostly because he was so intimidating. The green and white haired creature didn't though, simply because he knew what Kratos could be like; that he was good-hearted. Though, someone without intuition like Noishe had wouldn't realize that. It was better for Kratos's reputation too if no one would know. He didn't want anyone to think he had weak points, if he had them, that is. True, he didn't like it if innocent people were killed off, especially not when he'd have to do that himself, but it wasn't as if anyone could blackmail him by something like that. Kratos finally averted his gaze from the creature as it dropped onto its four paws again, and his expression was rather relaxed. It hardened immediately as he looked in the direction of the host body. There were some awkward seconds, with Noishe now sitting in between of the two standing humans looking at each other. She shifted uncomfortably at her feet under his cold gaze, and she looked away from him.

"Is he yours?" She asked casually, attempting anything to break this tense silence. She now looked at him from the corner of her brown eyes. "No." Kratos stated firm, and Noishe gave off some kind of teasing whine, but Kratos silenced him in an instant by looking him in his purple eyes, something which would very offending for normal creatures, but Noishe wasn't normal. As soon as Kratos looked away from him again it seemed as if Noishe had never been silenced at all. The darkred cape, which the seraph had held with him this whole time, was now thrown towards Anna. Luckily enough for her, it was only one piece of clothing this time, and she managed to catch it. With that the tall man walked further into the forest, expecting her to follow him. She didn't. Instead, she put on the cape, and ran in the exact opposite direction. She wanted to get far away from this mess, this organisation; everything! She didn't have anywhere to go now that her house was burned down, but everything would be better than being with one of those half-elves! She had seen her town now, she didn't care about any consequences; no longer. She would manage to gather her own food, just like she used to when she was a child and went for a walk in the forest. Monsters had been there of course, but she never strayed too far away, thus avoiding trouble. Her heart raced and adrenaline shot through her body at this attempt to escape, just like with the previous ones. Her leather sturdy boots hit the soft ground rapidly as she ran, and she looked over his shoulder to see if he was following. Next thing she knew, she bumped into something. It wasn't hard though, not like a tree. In a reflex she stumbled backwards. She didn't fall, for she had two strong hands wrapped around her biceps. He did it again, didn't he? Appear out of nowhere. She turned her head back forward, staring right at a part of a black sweater, strapped with lightbrown leather belts.

"I do not approve." Kratos said, looking down upon her as she looked up at him. She was trembling, without a doubt afraid that he was going to do something bad to her to punish her. He gave an interceptible frown as he noticed her eyelashes were wet and cluttered together. Had she been crying? Pronyma must've said some nasty things again, he assumed, unaware of the fact that she had destroyed the host body's house as well. He let go of her, ands she had her hands clutched to her chest, her gaze cast downwards now. If the situation hadn't been so serious Anna actually would've found his comment slightly amusing, but allas, that wasn't the case. "Come." The undercover angel said as he walked past her, much to her surprise. She turned around and looked at him with slightly widened eyes. He wasn't going to hurt her, or something similar? Kratos looked over his shoulder with a cold glance as he didn't hear her footsteps behind him. As soon as she did, she started walking, and walked about ten steps away from him. Soon they caught up with Noishe, who had remained at the same spot.

For about half an hour they walked in an absolute silence through the forest. Apart from Noishe's whining and barking from time to time; He seemed to be having a great time just walking next to the brown haired girl. Anna was glad she at least had some 'civilized' company now. At least this beast wasn't going to do anything bad to her. She petted Noishe, and he showed his thanks for that by wagging his tail. Kratos seemed to be less pleased about it, for some obsecure reasons. "Are you sure he's not yours? He's following you the whole time...And that brings me to my main question; where are we going anyway?" She said, trying to sound nonchalant and confident to hide her true nervous side. This was probably the most she ever said to this half elf at once. She wouldn't like conversating with him, but at least she was allowed to get some common information, right? ..If he would give an answer at all, that is. It didn't seem like it as he just walked on in a steady pace, not even looking back. She waited for one minute, and then got fed up with waiting. She didn't consider the option that he might not have heard her. After all, she talked loud enough and she was only ten steps behind him, for Martel's sake. "Not very talkact--" "Asgard." She had been interrupted by Kratos's answer and blinked a bit in surprisement. "Why?" He didn't reply to that, since he thought it was obvious enough; They were already too well known in Luin at the current rate. Even though they hadn't even slept there for one night, despite the fact that Kratos had rent a room. If Pronyma had been seen with them, they might have been considered dangerous criminals, which would be trouble. In Asgard, none would know of them, thus she could sleep there without any trouble.It was getting late already, and the sun started to set. For now, they'd have to set up 'camp' again.

The host body didn't bother to go further in on getting a reply to the question 'why'? It was most likely because Asgard was closest to Luin, except for Hima. Although, Hima was very hard to reach, and it would take days to travel through the steep landscape. It started to get dark, and Anna wrapped the cloak around her a bit tighter to protect herself from the bitter cold that would soon set in. They walked on for an hour or so, and everything was pitch black now. In the end, she tripped over a tree root, simply because her eyesight wasn't as good as that of the seraph, of course. Kratos looked over his shoulder as he heard the thud and stopped his pace. "...We will rest here for the night." He said, giving the sign that she could finally rest. Unlike him, Anna was weakened by that crystal, and she hadn't fully recovered from her bad treatment at the ranch either. With a sigh of relief she got herself together and sat up. Noishe instantly sat down next to her, licking her cheek happily. "Hehe! Calm, Sotark! Calm, boy!" She exclaimed, since it tickled like she didn't know what, and Noishe stopped. Kratos turned to her, with a slight hint of surprisement in his voice; "...Sotark?" the first sign of emotion she had ever heard coming from him. "Yes. Sotark, because he is the total opposite of you." Was her reply with some kind of satisfied smirk, barely being able to keep in her laughter. She got him there, in his face! It was true though, this dog was as extravert as possible, where as that half elf wasn't.

Kratos's stern face didn't change in any way. "His name is Noishe." He replied cold, not being to pleased with the fact that this woman had given his faithfull friend a name of her own. "Well then you should've said so earlier! Isn't that right, Noishe?" Noishe barked in agreement. "Humph..." The swordsman said, and picked up some dry branches with the intention to make a small campfire. Noishe moved from his spot and lay down behind Anna so that she would have a pillow in case she wanted to lay down. She did, by leaning backwards as Kratos readied the small fire. How did he lit it anyway? She had no clue.

Kratos sat down opposite from Noishe and Anna; "How symbolic..." he thought cynical as he looked at the two life forms ahead of him, but stared at the fire instead not long after. Age of Lifeless beings...This host body would become one too without a doubt. He had never liked participating in projects like these seeing what the end result would be, but he never complained. Ever. His thoughts wandered off to Mithos, and how to block this plan. Surely the Desians would do their utmost to reach this goal. Majority of the Desians, would rather see humans and elves being Crystals instead, if they hadn't, they wouldn't have joined Cruxis in the first place, now would they? One way or another, during this walk in the forest he had already determined that he would leave Cruxis. He wasn't going to work for Mithos any longer. However, it would take a while before he could do so. Betraying Mithos directly like this wasn't a wise plan; he was still too less prepared for fighting off Desians even though he had the skills. He just needed better equipment. Without a doubt Mithos would try to get him back, for he was Origin's Seal itself, and Yggdrasill couldn't allow him to wander off on his own too much. For Martel's sake, that had been the reason why he was stuck at the cursed planet Derris-Kharlan most of the time to begin with. His expression became more grim, for as far as possible just by thinking about it all.

Anna patted the large dog as she nuzzled into his warm fur. "Thanks boy..." She said friendly for being allowed to stay so close to him. It was almost as if he could understand her as he gave off a small whine. She felt alot safer too somehow, and closed her eyes to get some rest. Her little happy moment soon was ruined as the thought about her house and family set in again infiltrated her mind again. Even though her eyes were closed her eyelashes became wet again, and eventually, she started to sob again. That filthy 'Pronyma', how dare she...! Noishe whined a few times and placed his head closer to hers as if that was any comfort. Kratos had snapped out of his train of thoughts as he had heard the sobbing, followed by Noishe's whining. "Are you crying for the same reason from earlier?" She opened her eyes after another small sob in Noishe's fur, and looked in his direction, her vision being blurred by the tears. She was surprised he included her crying earlier, had he seen her house burn down? Because she didn't trust her voice to much at this rate she just gave a nod, hoping she wouldn't seem weak in his eyes. She had to stay confident, otherwise he might just be more satisfied for some reason. The Desians always seemed more satisfied when she was suffering at least. " And that reason is...?" He asked, although it sounded more like a command.

The host body made sure she calmed down a little before answering so that she could regain her voice. "That half elf, she burned down my house." She mumbled eventually, her voice slightly trembling in anger pity enough for her. Kratos could hear clear enough what she said. "Hmm...I see." Pronyma wasn't exactly someone Kratos liked being with. She had hurt Noishe earlier, and was about to do the same today if he hadn't been there. This seemed to a lot worse though, burning down someone's house was rather drastic... However, it was not like she was going to use that house again at the current rate. After all, she was the Angelus Project itself. It was unthinkable that she would go and live there on her own again. "Is that all you have to say?" A012 said in a monotoneous voice which sounded disturbingly much like Kratos's because of that, and she blinked once to get her tears away. "Yes. Now, get some sleep." The angel closed his eyes, and ignored her reply; "Night." She said before closing her eyes and snuggled up a bit closer to the warm fur as well as sitting in a bit more comfortable position. So, she was the currently closest victim of Cruxis. If he'd help her, that would be the first sign of opposing Yggdrasill's ideals. He would think about when to help her, but for now, he would continue his one and only duty; keeping close watch over the project.


	9. Confrontation

Greetings everyone. I'm sorry for the slow update, but here it finally is. I'll most likely be writing more once I have vacation.

Disclaimer: Nope, even after all this time I still don't own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does. -Mumble mumble- Enjoy!

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As soon as the host body's breathing was stable the seraph stood up from his spot near the campfire. Noishe was still awake unlike Anna, and looked up at him with a questional look in his purple eyes. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon." He said in a hushed tone so that he wouldn't wake the project, resulting his voice sounding even deeper than usual. It was better to leave now that she was asleep, otherwise she might get ideas about escaping again. He turned around and walked off in the woods. He trusted Noishe enough to have him keep an eye on the project while he was absent. If necessary, Noishe could be stronger and faster than a wolf, and shouldn't be underestimated by anyone because of this. Noishe wasn't afraid of monsters, for Martel's sake; he was even bigger than most of them in this area. And, since he seemed to have grown attached to this woman in such a short time span he was sure that the Protozoan would protect her. Even though it was dark in the area where Kratos walked, he could see everything just fine. At least there were some good points about this angel transformation. In one soundless and swift movement he drew his sword, holding it loosened in his black gloved hand. Like that, he walked on for quite a while, his crimson eyes scanning the area around him thouroughfully.

About half an hour later the auburn haired man returned, being happily greeted by Noishe who was wagging his tail, but keeping silent for the rest in order not to wake the woman who lay against him. Kratos' sword was sheatened again, and in his left hand he held a dead owl and some kind of large rat upside down. The fire had burned up most of the wood already, and so he put some new dry branches at it. Afterwards he just sat down and lay the motionless feathered and furry creatures next to him. It was the breakfast for the project, as well as a snack for Noishe. The bird was reserved for the female, since this was more of a delicatesse than a rat. On top of that, the rat was larger, and she wouldn't need that much to eat, unlike Noishe. Eating too much at once for her could still be dangerous, but at least she was save from starvation now. Kratos picked up the owl, and started picking its feathers out. It took him a while to get used to it again. The last time he had done this was with the previous Chosen's journey, but soon he got the hang of it again. Like all the others, this Chosen's group had ended up dead. Some Chosens had come further than others, like Spiritua, who had completed the World Regeneration journey, but in the end, her mana signature wasn't compattible with that of Martel. End of story.

The next morning Anna was awoken by a delicious scent of roasted meat. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, giving off a yawn afterwards. She blinked a few times to get her eyes adjusted to the light, and noticed that the half elf was holding some meat on a stick above the embers of the fire. She cringed as soon as she felt his piercing gaze upon her, even though his eyes were hidden behind the auburn veil for the biggest part. She averted her gaze quickly, as if watching him was something she was not supposed to do, and her gaze fell upon some other piece of roasted meat that lay in the grass, which seemed larger than the one he held above the fire. She sat up right, not leaning onto the furry creature anymore now. Noishe took this oppertunity to stand up and walk over to the large piece of roasted meat, eating it eagerly. Even though Noishe could just eat raw meat he preferred it when it was roasted. Kratos knew this, otherwise he wouldn't have roasted it for the Protozoan in the first place. She sat there for a while, and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She lowered her hand again as Kratos stood up, and handed her the stick with the meat on it. It seemed to be good enough to eat, there were barely any scorched places, and yet it seemed it had been roasted long enough. As soon as she took it a bit reluctantly Kratos walked back to his spot again and sat down, with his eyes closed. She took a small bite of the meat, and chewed carefully, but soon took another, bigger, bite. She continued eating for a while, looking at how Noishe ate before she fixed her gaze upon the tall man. Wasn't he going to eat anything? Or had he eaten already? She looked around to see if there were any remnants of his meal, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"Aren't you going to eat?" She asked after she swallowed some meat, and frowned slightly. She had asked it more out of curiousity than out of concern. He hadn't eaten anything when they were still in Luin either. At least, not when he had been in her presence. No one could do without food, that was for sure. And he didn't look like he was starving either; his body and muscles were well developed, she could tell as much even though his clothes weren't that tight. It wasn't like she actually wanted this man to feel good after all that that organisation had done to her. Not at all. He apparantly was so high in rank with those Desians she assumed he was responsible for all they had done to her. "..." As he remained silent she let out a small sigh. She would take that as a 'no' then. He stood up as soon as she and Noishe were done eating, and swept some sand on the embers of the fire with his foot. Anna threw the empty stick away, but didn't stand up. It seemed that half elf wanted to move on to Asgard again. The host body was disorientated in this area, which was quite far away from her familiar Luin. She didn't want to travel around with this guy. As she had vowed silently to herself; she'd resist as much as possible, and also in this case.

The stern man waited a short while, making clear with his cold gaze that he wanted her to stand up. However, she didn't. This annoyed Kratos, who was used to people listening to him instantly. Speaking to her to get her moving wasn't one of his favorite things to do. Noishe had already joined Kratos' side, and gave a small whine as Anna seemed determined not to move from er spot. "..." The auburn haired man walked threatingly over to her, towering out above her. Without saying anything, he took the collar of her darkred cape, and pulled her up, which wasn't so comfortable for her. If she didn't want to listen to his unspoken words then she would simply have to comply with his rough way. "Fine fine!" The host body exclaimed as she desperately tried to loosen the strong grip around her throat from the darkred cape. With that, Kratos let go off the fabric, resulting in the brown haired female falling back at the ground. That guy was such a brute! She started muttering under her breath as she followed the Desian, wishing bad things to happen to this filthy half elf. Kratos could hear everything she said, but gave no response to her malevolent wishes. She had no knowledge of his angelic hearing, and he'd like to keep up the act of not being able to hear even her most soft words. That way, he may discover some valueable information without her knowing. Information was something that the man valued even more than his strength. Besides, it was not like he cared what she thought of him anyway.

As they walked Noishe soon walked next to Anna rather than Kratos for now. Said man wasn't so pleased about that, but didn't complain. Noishe was free to choose whomever he wanted to walk next to. Still, as more time passed by he didn't think it was good for the protozoan to get so attached to the Angellus project. She'd die for the greater good soon enough anyway, and seeing Noishe sad wouldn't make Kratos feel any better either. And so, after the green and white furred had walked next to Anna and showed signs of affection by licking her hand sometimes, Kratos found it had been long enough. "Back." He ordered Noishe, not bothering to look over his shoulder at the two of them as he spoke. Noishe gave a long whine, and returned to walk next to Kratos who walked about 10 steps in front of Anna. "What was that for?" Host body A012 asked a bit offended, seeing as he had taken her good company away just like that. Did he want to pester her? Was Noishe too good for her? Or was he too good to walk next to her instead then? Not that she wanted him to walk next to her. Not at all. But she mistook his unspoken concern for Noishe for the air of superiority. And that, was something she disliked. He barely said a word to her, and never replied to her question. As usual, he didn't reply to the question she had asked just now either. Was she too low for him to treat her properly? Of course, in his point of view half elves like him would be higher placed than a human like her. That must be it. It felt strange for her to think up reasons why this wasn't a personal matter to make herself feel better.

It nerved Anna to see him act to superior. She was at least just as good as he was! It made her desperate to try and make him see she was more than just 'an inferior being'. Kratos had never literally accused her of being one, but since she still was convinced he was a half elf she was certain he shared the same opinion as all the others. Anna was prejudged towards half elves. It wasn't strange, since she was simply indoctrinated. At a younger age, she had believed everyone to be equal, no matter what race you were, but that had changed as the stories from the villagers seemed to come true. The Desians, half elves, did horrible things to all of them, and she had come to believe all Desians were like this. Of course, she also knew that not all half elves were bad. The half elf Desians were bad, but then again it happened to be so that almost all half elves were Desians too, which made it all in all confusing to keep her benevolent thoughts about them. And so, it was hard not to be prejudged in a time like this. "You really think you're everything, don't you?" She said to Kratos, pity present in her voice. Like she had expected, he ignored her like he always did.

Kratos listened to the host body as she accused him of feeling superior, but gave no answer to that. She knew nothing of him, and it was better like that. Dark secrets banished to the corners of his mind, and emotions hidden deep underneath the surface of his face. "Bossing around, ignoring me, being heartless...You're all the same." She mumbled, frowning in an annoyed way. "You base your opinion of one entire population on one person?" Kratos replied calm, not slowing down his pace. It wasn't clear to him what she exactly meant with 'you'. She could be referring to males in general, or his race. It'd be unlikely she'd be talking about the human race though since she was a human herself. Maybe she thought he was of a different race? "And now you're gonna tell me that you don't do that?" Anna snorted. "Correct." The auburn haired man said to her, noticing that it was already starting to get dark, the sky filled with purple pink and orange colours again. "Yeah right, as if I'll believe that." The brown haired female mumbled, averting her gaze to Noishe who gave her somehow some kind of comforting look and whined lightly. It turned out that the protozoan didn't seem to like this verbal fight between two people he liked. The host body silently hoped for Kratos to reply to her comment, but pity enough for her he didn't. Wasn't there anything she could do to make him talk? This was just so frustrating!

At any rate, Anna felt a bit more relieved after lashing out at this man, even if it was just a little bit. She hadn't had the chance to do so in a long time, and the cropped up thoughts about half elves had slightly subsided. It grew darker, and the female had a hard time to watch where she was going. It was just pitchblack, and there wasn't that much moonlight this night either. Currently they were walking through a forest. She was tired and thirsty. She hadn't drunk anything today yet, and her lips and throat felt dry. Well, at least it had somewhat improved from that cell she was in, but certainly not much. A second later, she tripped in the dark, and grazed herself because of a tree at her temple. Tears welled up in her eyes because of the nasty stinging scratch. She was still lucky it was only a scratch though. "We'll rest." Kratos stated as he finally stopped his everlasting pace. "You were just waiting for me to fall, didn't you?" Anna muttered as she touched the light wound at her head, blaming the half elf for it since he hadn't stopped earlier when it was still light. "Ow!" She said as it stung even more as she touched it. Getting out the bark would have to wait a bit. Kratos, with angelic patience didn't seem to be bothered by her constant flow of comments. Anyone else of Cruxis would've beaten her up(with an exception of Yuan or Mithos), even if she was the most important project at the moment. She didn't realize how relatively lucky she really was. Once mroe she attempted to get the bark out, without result.


	10. Recommendation

Phew, finally a chapter again. My apologies for the long wait. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Nope, I am still not in the possesion of the right of Tales of Symphonia.

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Kratos turned around, glancing at the pathetic sight of the woman at her knees, while she was trying to get the tree's bark out clumsily. Unlike her, he was able to see fairly well in the dark, but not to the degree that he could see just as well in the light. The green and white furred Protozoan whined worriedly as he also observed the host body's small wound. Kratos was also slightly concerned, but not because of the same reason as Noishe. The protozoan didn't want to see someone suffer, but Kratos simply cared about the condition of the project itself. The auburn man didn't feel guilty for treating her as such. It was his objective. His mission. He'd do what Lord Yggdrasill had ordered him to do regarding this. He'd take good care of her to help the little blue gem develop. He was smart enough not to defy the Lord's wishes this time. Or at least, not yet. Once the crystal at the back of her hand had done its work Kratos could make use of it. Then, he had a chance of beating the apprentice that had surpassed him, by using the exsphere himself rather than giving it to his superior. The thought that his skills and human abilities could become even more developed seemed unlikely, but with such a highly developed gem the stern man certainly had a chance. He'd try to make Mithos see that his 'Age of Lifeless beings' was wrong, but when Mithos refused, then Kratos would have the power to put an end to the blond half elf's life, if necessary. The tall man didn't like the idea of fighting his former friend, but for now it seemed like the best option.

The man took some steps in the Angellus Project's direction. "Get up." Noishe gave a whine as response, as if implying Kratos shouldn't be so strict to her. Kratos knew better though. "You forgot the say please." Anna mumbled as she did as he said, more because she had already been wanting to stand up since the ground was cold, although his command had given her a great urge to just remain sitting there. Besides, didn't he just say they were going to rest? Where she didn't stop with was examining her scratch with her fingers. Until Kratos grabbed her wrist, that is. Not particulary carefully he dragged her along, guiding her through the dark forest of trees. "Where are we going?" Anna asked, having not the slightest clue of where they'd be going now. She did watch her steps though, since she was afraid she'd fall again in this darkness. Though, that man's grip around her wrist was strong, surely she wouldn't fall so easily now. Because Kratos didn't reply she was ignorant of the fact that he led her to a nearby brooklet which he had heard with his keen hearing, followed by Noishe. They got out of the thick forest area, reaching the small flow of water, which pleased Anna as soon as she laid eyes on it. Finally she could drink something! Here it was also lighter too thanks to the faint moonlight. The pain seemed to disappear for a second, but returned as she automaticly smiled at the sight of the fresh cool water. Her charming smile faltered immediately after that.

"Sit, please." The angelic Lord commanded the project dryly, and it could easily be heard he didn't mean anything of the 'please' part. He gave a small gesture with his hand, as if that'd help making her sit down quicker. "I'm not your dog." Anna said hostile, and sat down on her knees, cupping her hands. She had done this many times before, and used her hands as a bowl to drink from after she held her hands underneath the water's surface so that the water would flow in. Eagerly she drunk the cool fluid, not noticing the well hidden jealous look of the numb man. "Aaaah...Much better." She mumbled to herself, to break the silence as she straightened her back again, resting her hands at her knees. The brown haired female blinked once in surprisement as Kratos sat down on his knees too, next to her, facing in her direction. "Sit still." Anna of course had no intention of doing so, and shifted away from him. Like a surveillance system she observed him, ready to kick him or anything similar if he made any suspicious movements. The man took off his fingerless black gloves and lay them next to him. Nothing overly suspicious so far. Kratos shifted a bit closer to her, reaching out with both of his bare callous hands for her face, which was too suspicious for Anna's taste, and a clumsy punch in Kratos' face was the result. What a freak! Just what did he want from her!? He was only concerned about that little crystal right?

Kratos withdrew his hands slowly from her. Her punch didn't hurt, it was more the fact he was taken a bit aback by the fact she actually had the guts to punch him. Sure, she had attempted to get away from him with violence when he had taken her from the ranch, but it felt slightly different. Awkward, really, to be punched in the face by a young female just like that. He didn't blame her, although he wasn't pleased about her behaviour. Maybe he had acted too unpredictable and scared her? He looked at the project as she backed away from him a little more and stood up, rubbing her now painful knuckles. Yes, that was most likely the case. Once more, Anna made a run for it now that she had had water. She was fed up with this half elf's company, and would prefer being on her own in this wildernis much more. Before she could get very far though she tripped in the dark, landing flat on her face. Another futile attempt to escape, pity enough for her. She crawled up, groaning. When she carefully opened her eyes and looked up in the dark she saw the even darker silhouette of the half elf. "To think, I only wanted to get the bark out..." The figure spoke, with his so far always soothing voice. Anna just folded her arms in a stubborn way over her chest, glancing in a random direction. Anything in this darkness passed muster, as long as her gaze wouldn't be directed at this man. It was unbelievably embarassing to constantly fail at escaping, and be stuck with him again. Besides, she didn't believe his words. For all she knew he had the power to abuse her, rape her, whatsoever, and that thought haunted her mind non stop, freaking her out. No wonder she'd take every oppertunity to escape.

Kratos just glanced down upon the female as she stood there, obviously rejecting his help. Well, like he cared. Sure, of course he wanted the crystal to develope properly in her body, which was why he had to make sure she was all right, but if she didn't want him to help she might as well help herself. He had done his best. In silence as almost always Kratos just walked past her, not thinking she'd be willing to try and escape another time. The auburn haired man sure thought she was slow to notice she really couldn't escape. She was so rebellious, yet when under the watchfull eyes of Kratos no one could possibly hope to escape...Well, no one, except for Anna, that is, who still was determined on making an escape sooner or later. Noishe's tail wagged as he saw his master approach, his long Protozoan tongue hanging half out of his snout. The man with his brown-belted costume picked up the black fingerless gloves from the ground. Now that he didn't have to help and get the bark out there was no need for him to keep them off; she had had her chance.

Anna's eyes narrowed lightly as he walked past her just like that. Tensely she turned around too, making sure she wouldn't lose the man out of sight, so that she would be sure of his whereabouts. Then, he couldn't do anything to her without her seeing it coming. She saw how the man put his gloves back on, and how he afterwards patted the large creature named Noishe on its head. She kept an eye on him as she brought her hands up to her heek again, carefully touching the scratches to find out where the bark was exactly stuck. With a lot of effort she managed to get one of the bigger pieces out, being glad she was able to do so without that half elf's help. Her chocolate brown eyes were teary because it stung so much. It was just a natural reaction of her body to pain; it wasn't like she'd burst out in tears all of a sudden. She still kept her attention focused at the man who had chosen to sit down against a tree meanwhile. Noishe lay next to him, having its furry head placed in the man's lap, being gently and steadily stoked by his gloved hands. The half elf seemed to be on his guard, even when he was so stroking the beast so relaxed...It was a strange contradiction, and she found it strange to be witness of this man's tense yet calm behaviour. At last, she managed to get out the small pieces of wood, or at least, a big part of it. She was unable to get the really small parts out, and she was sure that if she'd continue trying to pulk them out the tears would flow from her eyes. She'd wait a little while until she'd feel good enough to get out the rest too.

She lowered her hands again, and sat down at the ground, quite far off from this man named Kratos. She had no intention of getting closer to him at all... But, even so...Maybe he had some sort of weakness that she could make advantage of somehow? So far she hadn't discovered anything like that, much to her dismay, but it wouldn't hurt to try. She'd have to talk to him in an attempt to gain more personal information about him. Who knew; there might actually be some usefull information. She refused to go with him like he pleased; she wanted to get away from this all, as soon as possible. "...So you're one of the big bosses, huh?" She said in an attempt to start a conversation, this way indirectly telling him that he had heard one of the half elf's adress him as 'Lord Kratos' earlier at the ranch he had taken her from. She waited for an answer, but to her it didn't seem like he had heard her, for he simply continued to stroke Noishe. "I'm talking to you." She said a bit louder, making sure that she would be heard. What she didn't know was that Kratos had already heard her the first time, but simply had chosen to ignore her.

She took in a sharp intake of breath, clearly being offended by the machine-like man. She was honestly fed up with his behaviour. He had rescued her from that horrible ranch, but she doubted if the end result of this 'Angelus-project' would be different despite that. Sure, he made sure she got to eat and all, but obviously she had all reason to question his intentions. For Martel's sake, he was one of their higher ups! ..Maybe that was the exact reason why he treated her like dirt, even though in comparison to the caretakens in the ranch he did care better for her. But then again, that may say more about the ranch than about this man. She just wanted to be treated normally, even though according to the situation she had as good as no chance to achieve that goal. She stood up from her spot, clearly annoyed as she quickly paced over to Kratos. She stood still abruptly, placing her hands at her hips, trying to seem more intimidating when she stood in front of him like this. "Listen up, 'Lord Kratos'." She said, mocking his title rudely. "I want to be treated normally, which means you'll have to answer my questions more often." Pity enough for her, she didn't seem to succeed in looking convincing. Not convincing enough for the angel, that is.

Kratos listened calmly to her, not stopping his activity of petting Noishe, nor looking her in the eyes, like she didn't excist for him. Nothing than a small gust of wind. Who did she think she was? The Princess of Meltokio? Most likely not, considering she never would've heard of Tethe'alla...He found her request unreasonable. Kratos was already treating her better than he treated anyone else, with an exception of Yuan and Lord Yggdrasill, but it was obvious he'd treat his superiors with respect. The man didn't really take care of anyone but himself, and he already found it outstanding of himself to actually take care of this project, giving her food and the like. And now she was complaining? He wouldn't conceed to her will. There simply was no need for. Slowly he raised his well formed chin up in the air, temporarily stopping to pet Noishe's head. "Get some rest." Was all that he said to the host body, glancing up at her through his silken bangs with his stoic expression. It was clear that he would give no heed to her request. He didn't like conversing, let alone he'd answer most of the questions she'd ask. There was no use in doing so, and so he wouldn't do it. It was as easy as that.


End file.
